Congressional

Tiger Woods thinks his star will burn bright enough to win, even when he is competing in his 50’s. He has said he will only retire from professional golf when he feels he is past his peak.

“Absolutely, 100 percent. ” Woods said in an interview with WJFK-FM on Monday when asked the question about still winning when into his 50’s, and probably playing on the Champions Tour.

Tiger pointed to Tom Watson’s performance when Tom nearly won the 2009 British Open at Turnberry at age 59.

” It just has to be on the right golf course. By the time I’m at that age, it’ll be some golf courses over 8,000 yards. It’s probably not going to be at one of those. It’s probably going to be at a shorter golf course like you’d find at a British Open. It was like the perfect Open, it was howling, it was a golf course he had won on and knew how to play and it was playing very quick. You can certainly see a certain player playing into their 50s and being successful on a certain venue. You can’t do it on all venues, there’s no doubt, some ballparks are just too big.”

Tiger insists he is close to contending on a weekly basis, even if recent results suggest otherwise.

“I think I’m headed in the right direction. ” Tiger said at the Congressional Country Club, he was there to promote the AT&T National which takes place June 28 to July 1.

“I’m going to try and continue to improve in incremental steps in every facet of my game and try to make every facet of my game more efficient. I’ve just played three events – I won a tournament, four tournaments ago, if I get more efficient at what I’m doing, then I’m going to win golf tournaments.”

Tiger won at Congressional in 2009 before the event moved, to make way for last year’s U.S. Open. Injury prevented him from participating in Rory McIlroy’s big win. Rory dominated Congressional, finishing at 16 under.

It was tough for Tiger, not being able to play;

“Unfortunately, I was in a position where I couldn’t play and it was tough because I missed out on a golf course I know, that I’ve won on and that I love. Those factors made it difficult to sit back and watch. What Rory did was extraordinary. He played some beautiful golf.”

Congressional’s Blue Course will be par 71 and at 7,535 yards, is a long haul, but Tiger is hoping for difficult conditions;

“The difficulty is that it’s a big ballpark. If you get to where there’s a little moisture in the fairways and tee shots aren’t running and aren’t chasing, this course gets really long. It’s a fantastic tee-to-green golf course. You have to drive the ball well and once you get onto the greens, there’s a lot of pitch and movement, usually back to front. Playing here this year, I would like to see it difficult, there’s no doubt.”